Requiem for an ME
by ladyd10
Summary: Inspired by Alexx's departure in A Rock and a Hard Place. What we didn't see/hear.


_**Hi all! While I'm still banging out the next chapters of Knowing and Little Steps, Alexx's leaving inspired me to write a short one shot on what went on between Alexx giving her verbal resignation to Horatio and the end of that episode. Thanks to Adorelo for encouraging me to write it.**_

_**Requiem for an M.E.**_

"She what?" Calleigh stammered as she fell into her chair in the break room. She couldn't believe what Horatio had just told her. "Maybe you didn't hear right, Horatio. I mean, this case has been-"

"Calleigh, she said that it had been a pleasure and a privilege working with me and the team but that she needed to focus on the living for once and she meant her family," Horatio said quietly, cutting Calleigh's protest off before it truly began. He knew how she felt. Alexx was a constant; part scientist, part mother, part sage rolled into the kindest and gentlest medical examiner he had ever worked with. Not only did she care about the team of living human beings that surrounded her, but also, and more importantly, the victims that ended up on her table.

"When is her last day?" Calleigh asked with her head in her hands, profound sadness welling inside her.

Horatio fiddled with his sunglasses for a moment before answering. He knew that Calleigh wasn't going to take the news well at all. Great change usually upset her more than he knew she wanted to show. "She'll finish out the day and then she's gone. It was her own choice, not mine. She's finishing up some pathology reports and then cleaning out her office if you want to go down there."

"Calleigh sucked in a deep breath. "Thanks."

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"_Hello?" Calleigh asked softly as she entered the sterile white autopsy theater of the Miami Dade crime lab. She hugged her lab coat more tightly around herself, unaccustomed to the biting chill of the air conditioning. "Hello? Dr. Woods?"_

_There was a squeak of rubber soles on the tile and then a taller, somewhat older, entirely exotic looking African American woman appeared around the corner. When she saw Calleigh, her face lit with a warm smile, knowing this had to be the new transfer from New Orleans. "I'm Dr. Woods, but you can call me Alexx."_

_Calleigh found herself returning the smile and liking the medical examiner immediately. She held out her hand. "I'm Calleigh Duquesne. I'm the new firearms and toolmarks expert from New Orleans."_

_Alexx shook the young woman's hand. "Well don't they grow them gorgeous in Louisiana. Welcome to my autopsy theater, Calleigh. Come on in and we can get started."_

_Calleigh followed Alexx to the autopsy table with the victim's body already on it. He had already been undressed and washed and Alexx picked up her scalpel to begin her first cut of the Y incision. She glanced over at the pale faced newbie. "How many autopsies have you witnessed?"_

"_This will be my third. I was a lab rat at the NOPD crime lab. I didn't get into the field until about six months ago. I'll be fine Dr., I mean, Alexx. It's like gutting a deer," Calleigh said with more confidence in her voice than she actually felt. "No disrespect toward the victim intended."_

_Without a comment, Alexx made the first of her incisions, glancing carefully at Calleigh to try and gage her reaction. She saw her swallow hard and steel herself. Alexx decided to try a little classic redirection. "Gutting a deer; it sounds like you hunt."_

"_Me? Not really. A little rabbit or maybe duck and goose. Nothing big like a deer. My dad is the real hunter. I always helped him with the processing after he'd bring back a decent buck," Calleigh said casually._

"_So you've been around autopsies for a long time, only the animal kind," Alexx observed, noting the young CSI beginning to relax beside her. _

"_What about you? Any hunting experience?" Calleigh asked, leaning in to get a better look at what Alexx was doing._

_Alexx shook her head. "No. I don't like guns of any kind. Won't even let my kids have water guns. I've seen the kind of damage that a gun can inflict on human flesh. So, no insult intended, guns are bad news."_

"_I can understand that. A lot of people don't like guns...is that my bullet?" Calleigh exclaimed._

_Alexx suppressed a grin at the woman's enthusiasm. She'd be just fine in Miami. "Yep," she said, extracting the small, deadly projectile. "Here you go, honey. It nicked his aortic arch and he bled out into his chest."_

"_Thanks, Alexx. This is a .38 caliber, six lans and grooves with a right hand twist. Our murder weapon is a .38. Well that was easy. I have a feeling that this is not the norm," Calleigh said, flashing one of the brightest "Colgate" smiles Alexx had ever seen._

_Alexx returned the smile thinking that this new CSI would fit in wonderfully with the team. "You certainly know your ballistics stuff. Clancy wasn't nearly as good. And, no, this is a freak occurrence around here. Wait until we get a drive by or a massacre."_

"_Been there and done that. Mardi Gras, enough said. But, hey, thanks! They used to tease me and call me "Bullet Girl" at NOPD. I really hope that won't follow me here," Calleigh said, bagging her first bullet as a Miami Dade CSI. "Thank you again and I'll see you later."_

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"Hello, Alexx?" Calleigh called softly in the silent autopsy theater, her voice echoing hollowly.

"Calleigh, I'm in my office. Come on back," Alexx called.

Calleigh crossed the theater and turned around the corner, entering the familiar confines of Alexx's now half bare office. She was packing a set of medical books as Calleigh entered.

Alexx looked up at her and knew immediately why her long time friend was down there. "You heard."

Calleigh nodded. "I heard and I heard your reason. None of us really have families of our own except you. It never occurs to any of us how our job would affect them if we did. It's loud and clear now. You need to take care of your family and make sure Brian stays on the right path from now on. He and Jeanie are your most important priority."

"Calleigh it almost killed me to have to make the choice; you know that because you know how much I love all of you. You're my family, too," Alexx said softly.

"I know." Calleigh looked down at the desk for a moment, fingers playing with the wooden surface. "Do you remember when Tim hazed me with that head trauma?"

Alexx's lips twitched with a ghost of a smile. "If I remember right, you first threw up and then passed out cold on me."

"And I woke up to you giving him the tongue lashing of his life," she chuckled. "Tim was so very apologetic for the next several hours. He even dumpster dove for me for a month to make up for it. Too bad he didn't realize that I was coming down with the flu and that's why I passed out."

Alexx leveled a steady gaze on her friend. She could tell that she was near breaking if she had brought up the head trauma. It was the first secret Alexx had ever kept for Calleigh and the first time she showed her fiercely protective streak on the still-wet-behind-the-ears CSI's behalf. Alexx rounded the desk, opening her arms. "Come here, baby."

Calleigh stepped into Alexx's arms and returned the embrace with equal intensity, squeezing her eyes shut at the invading tears. She sniffed. "I'm going to miss you so much. We all are. What are we going to do without you?"

"You'll manage, honey. And it's not like I'm not just a phone call away. I'm not ending the friendships I've made here, I'm just moving on professionally. Maybe I'll go into private practice," she said, brushing a soft kiss on Calleigh's cheek. "You know I can't live without all of you in my life. It just won't be an every day thing anymore."

Calleigh buried her face into Alexx's neck, breath hitching in her throat. "You know, despite the fact that we're not that far apart in age, you're a lot like a mother to me. I can't even count how many times you've helped me out with problems. Who's going to be the mother figure around here now?"

"Honey, I could see you needed a mother figure in your life from the day I met you. Your own mother is still isn't one," Alexx admitted. She did feel very maternal toward Calleigh, Eric, Ryan and even Natalia. With the exception of Eric, everyone else had been separated from their families and all at a relatively young adult age. And not everyone had such a loving family as Eric had. Each had needs that she could meet and each had something to offer her in return. Their relationships became symbiotic and not for the first time since making her decision, Alexx felt her own eyes welling with tears at the loss that she chose to impose on herself for the greater good of her biological family.

After a long while spent in silence, Calleigh pulled back, wiping at her bleary eyes. "I want you...I wish you...oh Hell, I'll give you a call in a couple of days."

Alexx, wiping at her own eyes, broke into laughter. "If I don't hear from you at least once a week I'll come knocking on your door. And you're still invited to our Memorial Day barbecue. Henry is craving your gumbo."

Calleigh gave her a sad smile. "I will; I promise."

"Then get out of here and let me finish packing. I know you still have a Tox screen to run. Don't make me turn on those theater lights for another sample," Alexx scolded lovingly, shooing Calleigh from her office.

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Calleigh watched as Alexx exited the door that lead down to the Medical Examiner's domain. Alexx had changed clothes and let her hair down, looking comfortable and casual. She knew that it was going to be the last time she'd ever see it.

Alexx waved and then waited as Natalia walked out of DNA, stopping before her. The tall brunette had tears shining in her smoky eyes. Alexx reached out and embraced her, whispering in her ear, this youngest "daughter" of hers. "You're going to be one of the best CSI's Miami has ever seen. Don't you dare give up."

Natalia, at a loss for words, could only nod and smile softly, admiring Alexx's generosity.

Alexx turned and saw Ryan standing there, smiling so sadly, trying to be strong. She was almost surprised by the tender kiss on her cheek before they enveloped each other in a tight embrace. "You were a lost son not too long ago, but you found your way, baby, and I'm proud of you. I always knew you'd find your way back to us."

They reluctantly released each other, he returning to that same sad smile, trying to be strong. He didn't fool her because his eyes were just a tiny bit shinier than before. Then she turned and her own eyes welled, knowing that this last good-bye would be the hardest of all; Calleigh. It didn't matter that they had already talked and said a good-bye of sorts. This was the official one.

Calleigh approached Alexx, her own eyes already reddened and beginning to tear. They stopped in the middle of the hallway and Calleigh didn't care if anyone saw her cry just then. The pain of loss was too sharp inside her.

"So, this is it," Alex said, but Calleigh could only smile sadly and nod as Alexx embraced her tightly, each of them trembling from the emotion. Again, with a painful reluctance, she released her daughter of her heart and tenderly cupped her face. "You're the mama around here now. Take good care of them for me."

"I will," Calleigh whispered, trying to smile.

With a sense of comfort, Alexx turned and headed down the hallway to the elevator. Eric had been on a call out all afternoon and she didn't think she'd get a chance to say good-bye to him. She hit the button just as the doors opened. Eric.

He smiled at her and his smile was different than the others; it went all the way up into his eyes. Perhaps he was the only one of her dear children of her heart that truly understood how much her family meant to her and just how painful it was to leave. She reached out to him and held him in a very familiar embrace, being the first of the team to have done so after he had been shot and had a dismal first week of recovery, after Marisol was killed; she remembered how she and Eric cried in each other's arms when they heard that Speed had been killed. She kissed him on the cheek. "Baby boy, you've done a lot of growing up here. Don't let that new maturity make you slow and think too much. You know what you want, so go and get it, mi hijo."

With that, she released him and had one final look at the place that she had called home for over a decade, before stepping onto the elevator and into a new life.


End file.
